Council to discuss north side annexations

Annexation will be on the table when the Ames City Council meets Tuesday.

On the council’s agenda are two items concerning annexation to the north of the city: the first is the Athen property, the site for a proposed senior care facility and residential development.

The council recently voted to change the Land Use Policy Plan, paving the way for the project.

At Tuesday’s meeting, city staff will seek council direction “prepare language amending Land Use Policy Plan (LUPP) to allow for post-annexation designation,” according to the council agenda.

Council will be able to provide direction to staff on how best proceed with land designation to the piece of land once it is annexed, since the desired rezoning does not currently happen automatically once the land is annexed.

The second item deals with three different areas that could be annexed by the city. They include the Athen Property and the Quarry Estates property, both of which have requested annexation and both meet the 80 percent consenting property owners required by the state code for voluntary annexation. The first option outlined for the council to take would be to prepare annexation agreements for either or both of these properties, which would allow for a public hearing on March 26 and action to be taken as early as April 9.

However, this option would leave another piece of land, which is within the Land Use Policy Plan’s “North Growth Area,” out of this annexation process. This area, which sits south of the Rose Prairie Development, does not have the required 80 percent consenting to allow for voluntary annexation. If the city were to include all three properties, it would be able to hit the 80 percent threshold.

The advantages would be that the option would annex nearly all of the North Growth Area identified under the Land Use Policy Plan. It also would include a mechanism to fund the costs that would be incurred with the development of the 355-acre area.

The property, along with the 170-acre Rose Prairie Development, which was annexed in 2011, would “likely accommodate the growth needs of the city for some time,” the report said.

However, it would delay the annexation process for the other two properties by two to four weeks, in addition to adding more non-consenting property owners, according to the report.

The City Council meets at 7 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall.

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